Chapter 14: Alone

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Arthur Leywin:

With a groan, I woke up only to hit my head.

"Ughhh...."

Where am I? Holding my hand, I started trying to recall the last moments before I passed out.

Right, that crystal separated me from Sylvie and Ryuu... Now, where did it take me?

Checking my Mana Core, it was fully replenished, so I opened the dome to see what was outside.

The surroundings were dim, but the Magic Crystal around the walls provided enough light so I could see my surroundings without any problems.

Trying to sense for any nearby mana signatures, I didn't sense anything, so I assumed there weren't any monsters or adventures around.

"Well, that's good at least..." I said aloud.

'Sylvie, can you hear me?'

While waiting for a response, I didn't get anything, I could still feel the connection, but it was weak, so I assumed we were too far away. Sylvie is strong enough to protect herself and Ryuu now, so I don't need to worry.

"Let's just hope I'm only deeper in the dungeon..."

Did I raise a flag? Let's hope I didn't, I thought as I reinforced my ears.

The sound of rushing water filled the area, and it wasn't that far away. I checked my backpack and noticed that the potions were broken, and only the food and water pouch were intact.

Throwing away the potions, I left the area and started heading toward the water.

Getting water and food will be the best plan for now. Then I need to find the way to the floor above.

It didn't take long before I arrived near a five meters wide river. The first thing I did was try the water and see if it was drinkable.

Taking a sip from the water, and thankfully, it was drinkable. So I started to drink more of the water and then took out my water pouch and refilled it. But something caught my eye.

It was a small purple stone in the palm of my hand.

An Acclorite? No, this could be another extremely similar stone...

Focusing on the stone, I could feel the stone absorb some of my mana, but not on the same level as the crystal did.

This isn't the time to think about it. Sitting down, I started sensing my surroundings for the possible monsters while thinking of a plan to get back to the surface.

Going up is the only choice, but the problem is my food supply. I had enough food to last a few days if I rationed it. If I'm lucky, I should find something edible in the dungeon, like the dungeon crops found between floors 29 to 36.

I spent some time exploring the floor, and I could assume it was a safe floor due to the lack of monsters. I also found the entrance to the lower floor, but that wasn't what I was looking for. There wasn't anything that looked edible on this floor.

So now, my only choice was to find a way to go up and try my luck. It didn't take long before I found a passage leading to the floor above, so I went up.

As I entered what I dubbed floor -1, I started looking around.

The floor looked like the previous one. Not sensing anything near me, I continued forward, but when I was around 400m from the stairs, I felt killing intent from all around me.

"shit." I cursed

Looking around, I saw hundreds of white wolves blocking me from returning to the passage to floor 0. I can't feel any mana from them. Since when can monsters hide their mana signature?

Seeing no choice but to fight, I augmented my body and activated Thunderclap Impulse waiting for them to attack me.

Starring at the wolf I assumed was the leader because he was bigger and had two horns unlike the others, I thought of the best way to handle this.

With a loud howl from the leader, the other wolves started their attack.

Igniting my sword with blue flames and using Wind Magic to increase my speed even further, I started with a slash to the closest wolf and severed its head.

What surprised me was that it started disappearing, but I didn't have time to think about it because I sensed an attack from behind. So I spun around, the flames from my sword expanding the length of the blade and killing two other wolves before they disappeared.

I continued killing every wolf near me, losing track of how many I had killed, but the more I killed, the more I appeared.

Looking at where the leader was previously, I saw him still there while being guarded by two other wolves.

Wanting to try something, I activated Realmheart. The mana particles became visible, and my ability to sense mana increased. Then I saw the wolves all were connected by mana to the leader.

Is this his ability?

Deactivating Realmheart, I stopped killing the wolves and concentrated on creating a spell that would kill all the wolves around me.

Using Wind Magic, I created four tornados around me, and by infusing them with Fire Magic, I created fire tornados. Then, before the wolves could even do anything, I expanded the tornados and sent them straight at the wolves.

The wolves howled in pain as they started to burn before disappearing like the others.

Looking at the leader, I saw that he started to back away, trying to retreat, as I saw more wolves magically appear around him.

But before he could, I dashed toward him, jumping over the new wolves and landing just before him.

Before he could even react, I plunged my sword into his head, and as he was dying, I saw all the other wolves start to flicker out of existence.

"Well, a Naruto wolf... I didn't expect that here." I said to myself.

After the wolf died, I felt the mana coming from its Magic Stone, even without the help of Realmheart.

"So monsters can hide their mana signature now... Interesting."

If other monsters possess this ability, it would be bad for me now that I'm alone.

After I picked the Magic Stone from the wolf's dead corpse, I could sense the immense amount of mana stored in it.

I stored the stone in my backpack and continued to explore the floor.

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Ryuu Lion:

I watched as the blinding light spread from the crystal, engulfing Arthur, and when the light faded, I couldn't see Arthur anymore.

"ARTHUR!" I yelled as I tried to find him.

No matter where I looked, I couldn't find him.

I spent hours searching the floor and calling for him, but he wasn't there. I was feeling hopeless and couldn't accept that Arthur had died.

When Sylvie started crying, I tried to comfort the white fox while trying not to cry myself.

We just sat there for some time before she jumped out of my arms and tried pulling me toward the 27th floor.

"Sylvie, we can't... we need to find Arthur," I said, trying to stop the little fox from leaving.

That's when she decided to stop and bite me on my arm.

I felt a sting of pain before, and a tattoo appeared. I didn't even have a chance to think about it before I heard a voice out of nowhere.

"k-kyu."

'Papa is fine... he said to help mama out.'

Who? I looked around but couldn't find anyone around me besides Sylvie.

"Sylvie?" I asked

"K-kyu."

'Ye... yes, mama.' She said between sniffs.

Sylvie could talk! Wait, could Arthur also hear her? That isn't important now.

"Sylvie, do you know where Arthur is?!" I asked, hoping she would know.

"Kyu..."

'Papa doesn't know where he is, but he is alive... He said I should help you get out.'

"We need to help him!"

"kyu."

'Papa is strong. He will come back."

I thought about it for some time.

Sylvie confirmed that he was alive, but I don't know where he is. Has been transported to a lower floor? I won't be able to survive it alone. So we must return and get help from the rest.

But how will I get out of here alone?

"kyu."

'I'm strong, mama. I'll help.'

This actually made me laugh despite the situation.

"I know you want to help Sylvie, but you are too small to help," I said while petting her head.

Then as if to prove me wrong, she started glowing and expanding until the cute white fox was gone, and an 8 meters long black dragon appeared.

"Sss-sy-sylvie, is that you?" I asked the dragon.

"Kyu."

'Of course, it's me, mama." The dragon said with a proud face.

Ok, so the cute lite fox I have known for over two years was a dragon...

Just thinking about this made me forget what had happened for a while, and I just stared at the dragon.

WAIT! She called me mama the whole time!

If she called me mama, then the person she calls papa must be...

Stop Ryuu! This isn't the time to think about it.

We need to get out of here and get help and find Arthur.

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We managed to leave the dungeon safely.

Thankfully we didn't encounter any adventures until we returned to the 18th floor, and from that point, I could manage to return without her help.

Running through the street of Orario, I ignored the surprised looks of everyone and made my way to the Stardust Garden.

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Sylvie:

While mama and the rest of her familia members discussed the plan to help papa, I tried to contact him through our bond.

While I needed to make a temporary bond connection with mama so I could tell her to come back, my connection with papa is still intact, but I can't connect with him.

The only thing I know is that he is still alive but far away.

I can't help but blame myself for everything that happened. If I didn't go near that crystal, this wouldn't happen.

I wanted to go and find him, but papa told me to stay and protect mama, so I must do that.

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Authors Note:

Thank you for reading this chapter.

I don't know if it is possible for Sylvie to be bonded to two people at once, so I made it up because I didn't know of a way to make Ryuu leave the dungeon if Sylvie didn't tell her he was safe.

And if people complain about me exposing Sylvie, then deal with it.

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